Typically, a light emitting diode (LED) emits light into a full hemisphere. For some applications, such as for display lighting or general room lighting, such an output can be desirable. However, for other applications, such as for a flashlight or a vehicular headlight, a more focused output is required.
To provide this narrower viewing angle, the light output from the LED often is condensed. A variety of devices have been developed to condense light from an LED, such as devices that utilize a compound parabolic reflector. Unfortunately, these prior devices have a number of drawbacks including being expensive to produce, physically large, inefficient, and difficult to implement in an array configuration.
Other applications not only require a condensed light output from a single LED, but from a plurality of LEDs. Accordingly, to generate these multiple condensed light outputs, multiple optical elements for condensing light are often interconnected. Unfortunately, these prior designs for interconnecting multiple optical elements typically sacrifice some performance in condensing light in exchange for manufacturability.